Fey Daughter
by Winter's angel
Summary: What happens when blood ties come between what seemed like the perfect love? Book 1 of Solace of the Mists... Quall warning, AU setting
1. Prologue

Author's notes:

This fic is going to become an AU one, and it's original – I didn't model it after anybody else's fic – though it is heavily inspired by the tragedy of Camelot. You know, the story between Arthur, Morgan, Gwenhwyfar and Lancelot. Its my absolute favorite of all time ^_^.

Since it has a really archaic setting, the language might sound more formal than usual. But that's supposed to help enhance the story, sort of. Wasn't easy, I can tell you. 

You know the usual legal crap – Rheon, Griflet and Conri belong to me, though – so don't sue. No money. 

Oh, and it's a Quall fic, don't like, don't read. Flames _are_ rather discouraging, you know. Not really Rinoa bashing, but she does suffer a great deal – actually they all do – but then, you seldom get Qualls that favor Rinoa, and I'm not that compassionate kind of author. *evil smirk*

Summary: Ellone's been working on her powers ever since Ultemicia's defeat. Now, not only can she send people to the past, she can also send people to their previous lives. And when a distraught Quistis comes to Edea for help, there she is at hand…

On to the story! *dum dum ta dum! *

***

Solace from the mists

Book 1: Fey Daughter

By Winter's angel

Prologue

"Married!" The exclamation from the usually cool Instructor reverberated off the office walls, seeming to magnify a hundred times in her head as she struggled to regain her composure. It was rare, the young blond gunblader observed, to see Quistis Trepe so caught off guard. But then Squall Leonhart had always been a touchy subject around her.

Politely he waited for the usual cool expression of serenity to mask her face again, but after years of being around her, Seifer had long since learned to read her like an open book. And the smirk that graced his deceptively soft looking mouth told her so, mocking her for that involuntary slip, and in that instant, she hated him for being able to do so.

"That's a step I never expected him to take," She remarked with illusory calm, absently shuffling the papers on the desk. Seifer's eyes, however, were sharp enough to detect the slight shaking of those slim, graceful hands, and she felt raw, exposed, as though he could see through her to the wild hammering of her heart. 

Seifer shrugged. "They're in love. What else did you expect them to do?"

"Squall's a SeeD," she pointed out, as if that explained everything. "Commander, no less. How's he ever going to find time for family?"

His eyes were hard green emeralds, boring mercilessly into her cobalt sapphire ones. "The kings of yore had time for families. Why not our commander?"

She held his gaze steadily, never betraying the heartsickness she felt within. But Seifer Almasy was the unspoken victor in this little exchange, and well they both knew it.

***

"Goodness, my Quisty, you've been staring off into space ever since you got here!" Edea commented. Flushing slightly, Quistis quickly swept the brush through Elaine's hair one last time, then, with smooth practiced ease, braided the shining fair locks and secured the end with a ribbon.

'Here' was the Orphanage, and the only reason she was here was because she'd offered to bring Edea the package she'd had delivered to the Garden. Hyne in Heaven, but it was so difficult to think about anything else, what with that – that – angrily she pushed the rest of the thought out of her head. She'd known she'd lost Squall to Rinoa ever since their last visit to Edea's House – here, in fact. It was not seemly for her to still think of Squall as a lost love, and of the marriage as impending doom.

The little girl twisted around in her lap, meticulously feeling the smooth braid all the way down to the tip. "Thank you, Quistis! Matron never has the time to plait my hair for me – " and she threw her arms around the Instructor's neck and kissed her soundly. Quistis's usually grave visage broke into a spontaneous smile – the first since she'd heard the news.

"Something wrong, my dear one?" Edea had been watching her, and now she set the child in her arms down and gave him a little push. "Run along and play, sweetheart. You too, Elaine. I want to talk to Quistis."

She waited till the two children had toddled – there was no other word for it – out down to the flower field, then seated herself down next to the younger woman on the couch. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing serious." 

"I can tell, little one – you always used to stare off to space like that whenever something was seriously bothering you. Especially when Squall and Seifer fought, and Squall was too angry to come play with you – "

Quistis made an involuntary movement. 

"So its still Squall, is it?" Edea stroked her hair gently. "What of him?"

"He and Rinoa are tying the knot." Quistis replied tonelessly. She forced herself to smile at Edea. "See, nothing serious."

"And he didn't bother to inform his Matron." Edea smiled. "You were always so attached to Squall, Quistis. Everywhere you went you wanted him with you, and you hated it when he took time to quarrel with Seifer."

"At least I outgrew that childish resentment," Quistis said humorlessly. "Hyne knows how I've been trying to get them to work together ever since I partnered them off in class."

"And now they're best friends, isn't that so?" Edea rose from the couch. "You shouldn't fret so, dear – it's only fair to Rinoa, after all."

"What?"

Edea sighed. "How to explain? It has to be shown." She raised her voice. "Ellone! Elle, dear, I need you!" 

"Ellone?" Quistis gave a wordless cry of delight and sprang up from her seat. Ellone, with similar excitement, enveloped the younger girl in a suffocating hug. "You didn't tell me you were here!" Quistis reproved.

"I was concentrating on my studies, dear. It's exhausting work." She exchanged a glance with Edea.

"Its time to see if you've mastered the ability, then. Try it on Quistis. I want her to see –" She made an obscure gesture with her hand.

Oh, no. She was, Quistis felt, definitely missing something. "Wait – I don't – "

"Trust me, my Quisty." And the blonde felt a strange, soothing compulsion to do just that. "You need to see, to understand… so that you will bear Rinoa no grudge. After all, he was yours in the life past."

By this time Quistis had already fallen unconscious. Edea laid her down on the sofa, tucking a cushion under her head. She touched the younger woman's temples and kissed her brow. "See, then, little one, and come back when you are ready…"


	2. Flight of the fateful

Chapter 1: Flight of the fateful

By Silver Dolphin

It was, the guard at the castle gate decided, just another boring day standing sentry duty once again.

It wasn't really his fault he was young and untried, unseasoned for battle, was it? The least Laguna could do was take the knights-in-training to squire for the sworn knights riding off to battle. Sentry duty was so irksome. Was he never to savor the glory of victory, with the taste of blood in his mouth?

But wars were not for green boys, so the older knights had told him. _When I am fifteen, then I may go off to war, and not a moment before_. For now, he would have to man the gate, and interrogate any traveler who wished to enter the royal citadel.

As if on cue, his hawk's eyes spotted a lone rider approaching the gates. From what he could make out, this one was slightly built, cloaked and cowled. The courser was as slim as her rider, built for speed, dappled grey with a flowing silver mane. Not your average traveler, then – this one looked wealthy, and high bred.

The rider pulled up in front of the gates and pushed his cowl back. And the guard promptly got the shock of his life – the figure in breeches was a _woman_.

She was a stunning beauty at that, with noble features and finely spun raven hair. And when she spoke, her voice was a low, commanding contralto that carried to his ears with imperious ease.

"I am to see the queen."

He hesitated. "I'm afraid not, madam. The young prince has taken hurt and she refuses to see anyone else."

The woman's eyes flashed. "Would you offer resistance to her sister?"

The boy paled visibly. This woman was known to be a Seeress, the Lady of Truth and Vision. "I had not meant to offer impertinence, my lady – " hastily, he called an order for the gates to be opened. The lady rode through with out so much as a glance at him.

Shaken, the guard peered after her. The queen's sister, riding unattended? Scandalous! Women these days…

***

After handing her mount over to the stable grooms for care, Edea quickly made her way down the twisting castle corridors to where she knew the Prince was being tended. This knowledge had little to do with the fact she was a Seeress; it was more she had been called to deal with no less than five mishaps concerning the young boy – he seemed highly accident-prone, indeed.

As she threw open the door to the sickroom, Raine turned, her eyes flaming. "Who dares – oh, Edea! Hyne has answered my prayers at last!" Weeping, the queen rushed into the arms of her elder sister, who soothed her as she would a child.

"Squall – took injury – thrown from a horse and tore his face on a tree root. There was a vine stretched –" 

"On purpose. I know." This much Edea had gathered from Raine's fleeting, incoherent thoughts. "Raine, the boy is not safe here. Too many dispute Laguna's claim to the throne, and he is already worn thin enough fighting the Galbadians as it is. He cannot afford to put any thought to defending his son against his allies! The boy must be sent for fosterage – give him to me, and I will take him to my House in Avalon to be raised."

Easing the queen into a chair by the window, Edea turned her attentions to Squall. Barely six, the boy had already met with all manner of apparent accidents – last winter he had partaken of poisoned soup, and the year before a fire had started in his chambers, where he lay napping.

"They follow Laguna because he has the gift of earning the love of his allies. But they will not follow a prince whose parentage is questionable." Raine's voice was weary. "I had one daughter before I married Laguna – they feared me pregnant ere I wed him, because Squall was born a month or so early."

"The boy will live," Edea said, some of the harshness draining out of her voice as she examined Squall. "He has suffered a concussion and torn his face. Yet your son has a remarkably tough head – apart from some serious bruising, there is no internal bleeding. He was lucky this time." She turned back to her sister. "Come, the women will tend him, his life is not in jeopardy. You need a hot bath and a good long sleep."

"As do you." Watching her sister out of shadowed eyes, Raine had nevertheless seen the effects of hard riding in Edea's face. Why, her sister looked as exhausted as she herself felt!

Edea nodded. "When we are both rested, I shall request an audience with Laguna. If all goes the way we plan, Squall will be far away when the month is out." She noticed the stricken look in her sister's eyes. "Would you rather be separate from your son for a few years, Raine, or forever? The boy is not immortal."

Raine nodded. "It shall be so." Her voice was barely a whisper.

***

He could not remember.

Try as he might, Squall could not call to mind anything of the Castle he had left behind, or of the tall, commanding woman with the jet-black hair who rode with him. He had been told he had fallen from a horse and hit his head hard, just before he had had to leave the Castle orphaned – his father had died in the last battle against the Galbadians. 

And now this tall lady had claimed him for her own. He trusted her not, this lady with her black hair and black eyes. She had the look of a witch about her. And she spoke to him little, lost in her own thoughts, eyes on the road ahead.

She was wealthy, this woman, judging from her cloak of fine weave, and the expensive clasp pinning it to her shoulder. The horses they rode were highly bred as well, as far as he could tell. What did a noblewoman want with an orphan boy? 

Suddenly, she spoke. "When we get to my house you will meet my sister, Quistis. She is of an age with you. A year or so older, perhaps. It is about time for her to start her lessons. Can you read and write yet?"

"No." He said it sullenly.

"No matter. I have another boy fostering there as well. The three of you can do lessons together, and you and Seifer – that's his name – will have training together with my father's master-at-arms."

***

It was nearly a week's ride before they reached Edea's house. It wasn't really a house, more of a stone villa, with lush greenery and flora in bloom in the courtyard. A tall, slender man with hair gone iron-grey and black eyes came out of the large front doors to greet them.

"Welcome back, my daughter." He kissed Edea on the cheek, and then glanced at Squall. "Is this the boy?"

"The very one. Nicholas's son. Perhaps you would see to his needs, Father? I am weary indeed."

"Seifer will show him around. He should be back from his sparring session soon." The Lord Rheon turned to go back into the house.

"Come sit down, Squall. It won't be long before Seifer returns." A sudden smile lit Edea's lovely features to radiance, and she enfolded him into a motherly embrace. "Welcome to Avalon."


	3. Ties of friendship

Chapter 2: Ties of Friendship

It seemed to take forever. Squall sat as patiently as a six-year-old could, taking in his surroundings with grudging curiosity. Stone walls, stone floor covered by a red rug. The furniture was hardwood, expensive.

And then a girl's voice spoke to him from the doorway. "Are you the one Seifer was supposed to see?"

He turned around, and his eyes fell on a small girl no taller than his ear-level. Her hair, honey-colored and tangled, spilled down her back with careless abandon. She regarded him solemnly out of large, cerulean eyes.

"Yes," He said shortly, climbing off the chair he'd been seated in.

She shrugged thin shoulders. "He's too tired to come, and asked me to show you to your room instead. Are you to stay with us always?"

"I think so." If Edea had said he was to school with them…

She smiled. He couldn't help noticing how that smile changed her rather serious face dramatically, as it had with Edea. It came to him that this must be Edea's sister.

"I should like that. There's only Seifer around now, and he's busy training most of the time. And we always fight anyway. He never wants to listen to me." She pouted a little. "Perhaps you could be my friend."

He looked at her in surprise. "Why would you want to be mine?" _She doesn't even know me yet… _

"I like you." Her answer was simple and decisive. His eyes followed her hand as she pushed one tumbled lock of honey-colored hair back.

"I see you've met my daughter." Rheon came into the sitting room and laid an affectionate hand on the girl's head. "Quistis, this is Squall. He's to stay with us."

"I know. He's going to be my friend." She smiled again. "Come, Squall, your chamber lies this way. It's right next to mine." After allowing herself to be kissed by her father, she moved with all the studied decorum of a little lady towards the door, with Squall following hesitantly behind.

***

"Here we are." Quistis had led him through one of the two doors at both ends of the central chamber, which opened to a stone hallway set with wooden doors. She'd stopped in front of…the fourth door. Yes. He had to be sure – the doors were all similar, and he had no wish to walk in on someone else by accident.

"My room is just next door," the small girl said cheerfully. "You can come look for me when you want."

He nodded, feeling a little strange in her eagerly offered friendship. He couldn't even remember how it'd felt like to have friends – all he remembered was feeling bewildered, alone, and wary. Because he could not remember, he had take extra care in safeguarding himself against the unknown.

The room was square, with a bed bearing a blue wool coverlet, a chest of drawers, a small table, as well as a mirror on the wall and a rug on the floor. "Thank you," he said, the words feeling foreign on his tongue. "I shall be comfortable here."

Why, he had nice manners, more so than that pest Seifer, who pulled her hair whenever he was feeling spiteful. "The bathhouse is further down the corridor. I could bring you there, if you like – my sister insists I bathe before dinner." She wrinkled her nose. "I am not so dirty, am I?"

He looked gravely at her long windswept hair and earth-stained skirt. "Just a little, perhaps."

She looked in the mirror and smiled, conceding. "A little, maybe. And surely you would like a bath – traveling is tiring, Edea always said, and she always likes the hot water to soothe her muscles. Come – I cannot show you everything myself, because I am a girl and you are not, but the attendant will help you." She took his hand and began to tug him in the direction of the entrance. "The evening meal should start in about two hours. We'd best not be late; my sister is not known for kindness towards laggards."

***

Two hours later Edea was pleased to see that they were ready to begin dinner. Even the children were clean and present.

She watched as Quistis, now dressed in a clean blue gown and white tunic, dipped her hand into the meat dish. Squall, she noted, was quick to follow suit. Ah, Quistis would be beautiful someday – as beautiful as her mother Lenore had been before she'd died trying to give Rheon a son. Lenore had been all angelic white and gold – compared to Edea's and Raine's own mother, who had been a dark beauty, they were as different as night and day.

No, not angelic but fey. Lenore had been of the fairy blood, the fey who had practiced the Old Magic. Tall, blonde, and violet eyed, she was the fairy queen Niniane come again…

And Quistis favored her. _Quistis of the Fey_. Perhaps it was the fairy heritage that gave her such allure, then…

On Quistis's right Conri served her stew first, smiling benevolently down at the young girl. Ah, they all lived for Quistis's smiles, did they not – young Conri, barely eighteen and still her disciple, the servants, and even Griflet and their lord father who had been hardened by seasons of battle, and she herself. It seemed Conri had been paying special attention to Quistis of late. Conri still had far to go as a Seer. In the meantime, while Quistis grew up…

__

It is still early to be thinking of my youngest sister's marriage, for the love of Hyne! Quistis herself might be a seeress – it was too early to tell; the Sight usually manifested itself on the onset of puberty. If so she should be highly esteemed – seers were rare nowadays, the Sight dying with the powerful Old Magic. 

Her eyes shifted to the Squall sitting on Quistis's right, to find that he was watching her too. That was fine, then. Squall had taken to her half-sister as she'd hoped he would. Now he would have someone else to spend his days with, instead of Griflet who might let slip some court information, which would trigger his memory…

He must not know. Before the time was right, Squall Loire must not know his true claim. 

She'd expected the amnesia when she'd assessed his wounds. So be it, then – it had made removing him from court so much the easier.


End file.
